Elden Ring Volcano Manor quest walkthrough: Should you join Volcano Manor?

Update: We've streamlined the information on this page and added some additional tips so that you have no trouble completing the Volcano Manor questline.

The Elden Ring Volcano Manor quest is one of the most complicated and slightly bizarre stories you come across throughout your whole adventure in The Lands Between.

As well revealing a lot of fascinating lore, it's also stuffed with NPC quests and side missions, rare loot, and a rather weird ending should you decide to eventually take on Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy.

However, it's very easy to miss certain quest steps or complete things out of order and lock yourself out of seeing everything in one playthrough. So we will walk you through it all in our Volcano Manor questline guide.

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Elden Ring Volcano Manor guide

Joining Volcano Manor means going on a Tarnished hunt, murdering travelers and warriors like yourself and stripping their corpses for rare loot. It’s also part of a few NPC questlines, whose stories don’t progress unless you complete at least a few contracts. Getting started and actually reaching a proper ending is more difficult than you might think, though.

If you want to get the most out of the Volcano Manor quest, you’ll want to start early. You need to spare Patches in Murkwater Cave back in Limgrave, then speak with him again at the Scenic Isle Site of Grace in Liurnia.

You can access and defeat Rykard without doing any of Volcano Manor's quests, though it comes with a few consequences. After you defeat Rykard - regardless of whether you join the Manor - everyone in the Manor leaves. That means you'll miss Rya's quest and all the loot gained from Tanith's contracts.

• How do you get to Volcano Manor in Elden Ring
• Where is Patches on Mt. Gelmir?
• Should you join Volcano Manor in Elden Ring?
• How do you start Bernahl’s quest in Elden Ring?
• Does Volcano Manor affect the ending in Elden Ring?

How do you get to Volcano Manor in Elden Ring?

There are three possible routes to Volcano Manor in Elden Ring.

Abductor Virgin teleport

If you speak with Patches at Scenic Isle, he should tell you about a secret route in the basement of Raya Lucaria. You'll want to head to the academy and find the huge, towering water wheel elevator here. Hop on it to reach the lower level and let the Virgin Abductor here - the iron-maiden like monster - draw you in.

You’ll end up underneath Volcano Manor in the Inquisitor’s Chamber. You’ll have to fight (and win against) two more Abductor Virgins to leave, but once you do, you’ll wind up in Mt. Gelmir long before you’re meant to.

The Mt. Gelmir map fragment is along the road out front of the manor, past the giant troll.

Rya's quest

You can also reach the Manor a bit earlier if you start Rya’s side quest. Rya is east of the Scenic Isle Site of Grace first, in one of the small gazebos. She asks you to find a necklace for her, which you can get off the bandit at Boilprawn Shack, north of Scenic Isle. Buy it for 1,000 Runes instead of looting it off his corpse, as he plays a role later in the Dung Eater’s quest.

Rya thanks you with an invitation to Volcano Manor, but you’ll need to progress to Altus Plateau before you can do anything with it. If you take the Grand Lift of Dectus to Altus, you should find Rya standing on the platform just in front of the lift.

If you took the tunnels instead and do not have a full Dectus Medallion, she should be near the Erdtree Gazing Hill Site of Grace instead. She didn't show up for us there, however, so we had to complete the Dectus Medallion and take the lift.

Either way, once you find her, speak with her, and she’ll immediately teleport you to the manor.

How do you cross the Volcano Manor bridge?

If not via Abductor Virgin or Rya, you’ll have to reach the manor on foot, which you can do in two ways. The first is reaching the Bridge of Iniquity, near the Corpse-Stench Shack. This is where you'll end up if you follow the road west of Windmill Village. The bridge is impassable, though. The way forward involves climbing a ladder near the iron maiden-style enemy roaming the soldiers' encampments.

Alternatively, you can take the road through Seethewater, north of Wyndham Ruins, pass the Magma Wyrm near Fort Laiedd and through Hermit Village. Fight or ignore Demi-Human Queen Maggie, then continue following the path past the soldiers. If you want to continue Patches’ quest, you’ll need to take a short detour.

You can also find Sorcerer Azur near Demi-Human Queen Maggie; this NPC is part of Sellen's quest, and will also give you one of Elden Ring's best spells.

Where is Patches on Mt. Gelmir?

To the left of the bridge, near the Pumpkin Head, you’ll see several glowing stones. Turn left at the third one, and you’ll see a clump of bushes further back. Patches is in there. Speak with him, then walk toward the edge of the cliff near the red glowing stone. He’ll kick you off – you don’t die though – and then you can speak with him again. He warns you not to join Volcano Manor.

From there, cross the bridge, climb up the ladders and head past the Grafted Scion. Turn left when you reach a fork in the road, and cross the bridge. Hop on the Spiritwind using Torrent, ignore the Fallingstar Beast, and you’ll see Volcano Manor straight ahead.

Should you join Volcano Manor in Elden Ring?

Yes, if only to advance several quests and get access to Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy. Despite the gravity of the murders you commit, there are no negative consequences – at least, none we’ve come across. Whether you arrive unannounced or with Rya has no bearing on what happens next.

Tanith, the lady of the manor, will assign you tasks periodically, and give you the Drawing-Room Key so that you can access more of the manor. These contracts are all assassination missions, where you grab and read a letter, travel to the spot marked on the map, and invade an NPCs world to fight them.

The later ones are in Mountaintops of the Giants, so you won’t be able to finish the quest chain right away in most cases. You’ll also want to hold off defeating Rykard until you’re completely finished with the Manor, since everyone will leave the manor shortly afterwards. First up, and before making your way to the Drawing Room, take a left and go upstairs to reach the Dining Hall.

Inquisitor Ghiza will appear and fight you. Defeat them, and then make your way to the Drawing Room finally. Here, you'll find Rya, Knight Bernahl (the Warmaster from Stormhill), and Diallos if you have made some quest progress with him. On the table, there'll be a Recusant Finger and a letter detailing your first contract for Volcano Manor: Old Knight Istvan.

You'll find Old Knight Istvan in Stormhill. It's a fairly standard invasion battle, and after defeating him, you’ll get the Magma Shot spell from Tanith back at Volcano Manor.

Head outside and speak with Patches to continue his quest, if you haven't already killed him for pushing you off a cliff earlier. Knight Bernahl will then sell you new Ashes of War, and Rya has new dialogue that’s related to her quest, but not vital for advancing it.

Continuing Patches’ quest

Patches gives you a letter from Tanith and asks you to deal with the assassination request for him. Do that, return, and he’ll give you the Magma Whip Candlestick.

The second contract tasks you with taking down Rileigh the Idle in Altus Plateau, who’s anything but idle. They use fast-loading crossbow bolts that inflict Scarlet Rot, but once you’re successful, Tanith gives you the Serpentbone Blade Katana. You can move forward with Rya’s quest now and unlock the Prison Town legacy dungeon, which leads to Rykard. Hold off defeating him if you want to continue the manor contracts, though.

How do you start Bernahl’s quest in Elden Ring?

After the second contract, speak with Bernahl again. He’ll give you two new contracts to complete together, and then once you’re back at the manor, he rewards you with the Gelmir’s Fury spell.

After the second contract is also when Diallos grows disillusioned with the Manor and leaves. Travel to Jarburg in Liurnia to finish his questline.

Up next, you'll want to pick up your final contract for Volcano Manor from the Drawing Room again. It'll be another letter, and it'll ask that you kill Juno Hoslow, Knight of Blood. You'll find them at the Mountaintops of Giants, near the Shack of the Lofty, and once you defeat him, you'll gain his armor and his Petal Whip.

With this particular invader being in the Mountaintops of the Giants, it's recommended that you venture to Leyndell, Royal Capital first so that you can actually access this area.

Does Volcano Manor affect the ending in Elden Ring?

What you do in Volcano Manor does not affect Elden Ring's ending. Once you complete your final contract and kill Juno Hoslow, return to Tanith at Volcano Manor to receive the HP-restoring Taker’s Cameo talisman as your reward.

Tanith invites you to meet Rykard, but make sure you’ve found Rya in Prison Town and progressed to the point where she asks you to kill her first. Don’t kill her. Then, go and defeat Rykard, and the Manor’s inhabitants will disappear – mostly.

You can find a letter from Rya in her hiding place in Prison Town, while Tanith is having a bit of a moment in Rykard’s boss arena. Here’s where things get murkier.

What are the Dancer's Castanets for in Elden Ring?

After defeating Rykard, you'll find Patches one more time in the Shaded Castle in the north of Atlus Plateau, where he’ll give you Dancer’s Castanets and a new weapon.

You’re supposed to give Tanith the Castanets, though if she’s in the boss arena, she won’t take them. We’ve not been able to acquire the Castanets before she moves to Rykard’s room, though, so their purpose remains unknown. Theorycrafting from players has lead many to believe that the Castanets are a reference to Tanith's past as a dancer, and perhaps an insult of sorts from Patches now that Rykard has been slain.

For now, you can choose to kill Tanith, get her armor, and defeat her knight before leaving Volcano Manor behind for good. The Knight drops one of the game's best Incantations, Aspect of the Crucible: Breath.

Also, you don't have to leave Volcano Manor just yet if you don't want to. Take the time to thoroughly explore the area if you want, as there's plenty of loot and the occasional secret passage to spend time venturing down. There's also a Godskin Noble miniboss that we recommend facing before continuing with Elden Ring's story.

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If you're looking for more help in The Lands Between, check out our Elden Ring guides collection, including how to help Millicent and the best Ashes of War to outfit your weapons with.